Siria
by California smells funny
Summary: A notsolittle oneshot for Valentine's. Sirius decides drastic action is needed for him to be with Remus. Includes SBRL, girl!Sirius, confused!Remus, and much more...


**Siria**

_A/N: Here is my Valentine's fic of 2006. I'm posting early because I'm going on holiday tomorrow. Hope you like it, folks._

_---_

"This is the best idea I've ever had!" Sirius grinned happily as he bounced into the sixth year Gryffindor boys' dorm.

James Potter looked up from the parchment on which he was planning his latest wooing attempt of Lily Evans, and gave Sirius a withering look. "Sorry to rain on your parade, mate, but if it's anything like what you were talking about last night, then I'm afraid it has to be one of the worst."

Sirius flopped onto his bed, his face lapsing into a sulky expression. "You haven't even heard it yet!"

"I don't need to." James returned to his parchment. That only lasted a moment before he was hit on the head by a copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages_. "Sirius!"

The boy in question jumped up to retrieve his book, and resumed grinning like an escaped lunatic. "Oh go on, Prongs!"

James made a great show of putting down the parchment, and turned to face his friend. "Okay, try me."

Sirius swung his legs up onto the bed and steepled his fingers. James considered reminding him how ridiculous that looked, but decided this would be over faster if he didn't. So he let Sirius get on with it.

"Well, Prongs, you know all about my unfortunate predicament…"

"You mean the fact you fancy the pants off one dear friend of ours, but are absolutely one hundred percent certain he does not feel the same?" James asked innocently.

Sirius flinched, even though he knew their two roommates were in the library doing Arithmancy homework. "How many times have I got to say it? Walls have ears, so keep your mouth shut!"

"Fine," James said, leaning back against the head of his bed. "Continue."

"Okay." Sirius gave him a dirty look. "Well since you mention it, yes, I am one hundred and twenty percent certain that he's straight. So what would be the obvious solution?"

James's eyebrows shot to his hairline. "For the love of god, tell me you're not getting a sex change."

"No!" Sirius shot back quickly, and sighed. "That would be rather too radical. Chances are he wouldn't date me even if I were a girl. So I'm taking a chance for one night only."

"What are you planning, Black?" James asked, beginning to feel a little concerned.

"In a nutshell," Sirius answered, "it starts with a 'p' and ends with '-olyjuice'."

"Jesus." James stared at him. "You've flipped. Are you really that desperate to get with him that you'd turn yourself into a chick for a night?"

Sirius nodded sheepishly. "Well, yeah. I'm not going for pure polyjuice, by the way. I found this other spell that'll let me still look kind of like myself, but as a girl."

James frowned for a few seconds, re-aligning his brain. "I have two questions. No, wait, three. When are you going to do this?"

"Next Tuesday."

"The Valentine's Day Ball. I would never have guessed," James remarked sarcastically. "My other two questions are these. One: Who are you going to say you are? Two: Where am I going to have to say the real you is?"

Sirius concentrated briefly, unravelling the logic of the questions before replying. "I'm going to say I'm a visitor or something; I'm still working on that. And you can say I've got detention or something like that; it'll be totally believable." He looked straight at James. "What I want to ask is: are you going to help me with this?"

James was all set to refuse, then he realised how risky the potion actually was. "If I say no, you're likely to poison or explode yourself, so yes, okay, I will."

"Thanks Jamesie," Sirius grinned widely. "I guess that means you'll help me break into Slughorn's supply cupboard tonight?"

He groaned. "I've committed myself now, haven't I?"

"Yep," Sirius laughed. "I need your brains, your ingenuity and, most importantly, I need your cloak."

"Great to feel wanted, isn't it?" James said dryly. But the fact was, he didn't mind. He was a marauder, after all.

---

At ten to midnight, Remus and Peter were safely asleep, something Sirius checked thoroughly before he and James slipped under the Invisibility Cloak and left the dorm.

The corridors were silent and dimly lit by the waning moon as they sneaked in the direction of the dungeons. By some divine mercy, they didn't encounter Filch, who had only been caretaker for three years, but had wasted no time in obtaining a reputation for barbarism. The only other movements crossing their line of vision were brief, fleeting glimpses of the castle ghosts as they went about their nocturnal business.

At last, they stood in front of the potions cupboard. It now occurred to both of them that Peter would have been useful on this particular escapade, as he was indisputably the best of the four at picking locks. But Sirius had insisted that it was just himself and James who were in on this secret, so with a team effort, they managed to get the door open.

As soon as there was enough room for him to get into the cupboard, Sirius squeezed through the gap, raised his wand and muttered 'lumos', and started looking for what he needed.

Two minutes later, he emerged with a small armful of ingredients and stepped back under the cloak. Together, he and James re-locked the door and hurried back to the tower.

---

Four days later, it was February 13th, and lunchtime found James and Sirius in the abandoned girls' toilet near the Great Hall, working on the almost-completed potion. At the moment it consisted of two different liquids, being kept separate for the time being; one was pure, opaque black, and the other was a delicate pinkish-lilac.

"When do we put them in together?" James asked as he watched hypnotic wreaths of grey smoke coming off of the black mixture.

"When I drink them," Sirius answered, re-reading the instructions for about the hundredth time. "I have to drink the pink one first to turn into a girl, then after I start to transform, I drink the black one to maintain some of my own characteristics."

James nodded. "Clever. How long's it supposed to last?"

"As long as I want it to, within reason. I think the maximum is 24 hours, but I can stop it before then with this incantation." Sirius handed him the book. "'Semper sim qui ego sum; I now declare this change undone.'"

"Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you going to do if it works? If he likes the girl-you?"

Sirius looked at the floor. "I have no idea. I guess I'll just leave it as a happy memory for him."

James spoke hesitantly. "You wouldn't… do anything to make the change permanent… would you?"

Sirius's head snapped back up. "Of course not!"

"Good." James looked over at him seriously for a moment. "I couldn't stand losing you to womanhood."

Sirius smiled back at him. "You won't." He turned back to the pink potion. "I think our little friends here are ready for bottling."

---

"Hey James, where's Sirius?"

James froze as the inevitable question finally came his way. It was six thirty on Valentine's Day evening, and he, Remus and Peter were getting ready for the ball. They were all dateless: James because of his failed attempts at Lily-wooing, and Remus and Peter through a lack of effort or inclination to look for dates.

"He had a detention," James ad-libbed quickly. "McGonagall found out he cribbed that homework straight from the textbook, and she was really pissed at him about it."

"That sucks," Remus commented, smoothing his hair in the mirror, which giggled. "I can't believe she gave him detention tonight of all nights!"

"Me neither," James answered, relieved that his explanation seemed to be working. "Are you guys ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Peter replied, standing up. Remus just nodded.

The three of them made their way to the Great Hall, following the stream of red and white balloons and streamers. When they arrived, James made his excuses, claiming he had to complete his Lily-plans, and headed for the bathroom upstairs.

When he went in, the cauldrons on the floor were empty, and there was the scent of perfume in the air. "Sirius?"

"It's Siria now," a feminine voice replied, and a girl emerged from one of the stalls.

"Crap on a stick, mate," James said in wonderment, "that stuff works great!"

"Thanks," girl-Sirius answered, walking over to one of the mirrors and starting to put on lipgloss. "My name's Alia Dolum, by the way. I'm home-schooled by my mother, who's a pure-blood witch. I might be coming to Hogwarts soon, so I'm here to check it out. You've been assigned to show me around a bit."

James raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed. Your creativity really comes into its own sometimes."

"Again, thanks." Alia finished her makeup and turned around. "What do you think?"

"If I wasn't head-over-heels for Evans, I'd date you myself."

The laugh that comment induced was not entirely unlike Sirius's usual bark; it was just a touch higher and purer. "I'm glad to hear it. If I get any spare time, I could have a girly chat with Lily myself, and find out what she really thinks of you, if you want."

"Only if you can spare the time," James said slowly.

Alia glared at him suddenly. "James, you're my best friend; it is so patently wrong that you're staring at my chest!"

James looked away so quickly he nearly got whiplash, and blushed fiercely. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to." He then added curiously: "Did you get to choose your, ah, proportions when you were brewing the potion?"

"Yep." Alia nodded. Anyone present would have had to admit that Sirius had done a good job of remodelling himself. Alia was slim and a little over average height, with a modest chest and subtle curves. Her face still maintained some of Sirius's features, but smaller and gentler, and her hair was past her shoulders, still black and straight, but layered at the front. "Can you tell it's me, though?"

"I wouldn't expect people to recognise you," James said honestly.

"Great." Alia picked up a bag from the floor; it was dark red and matched her dress. "So what's my name?"

"Alia Dolum."

"What am I doing here?"

"You're home schooled by your mother, who's a pureblood, but you might be coming here, so I've been asked to show you around for tonight."

"Nice work." Alia stepped forward. "Now James, would it be alright if you took me to meet your friends?"

"It would be fine," James grinned. "Remember not to call anyone by their nicknames or anything, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah."

James put out his arm, Alia took hold of it, and they left the bathroom.

When they reached the Great Hall, James found Remus and Peter sitting in their usual place at the Gryffindor table. "What held you up?" Peter started to say as he saw James, but his words stopped halfway out of his mouth as he spotted Alia. "…Hi. I'm Peter."

"Alia Dolum," Alia said quickly, smiling at him. This was so manky, now _Peter _fancied Sirius's female self… "I guess James hasn't got round to telling you guys about me yet?"

Peter shook his head, trying unsuccessfully to close his mouth. Alia shuddered inwardly. "I'm a witch, but I'm home schooled. I might be coming to Hogwarts soon, so Professor Dumbledore asked James to show me around for tonight."

"And I accepted," James finished, gesturing to an empty seat on the bench. "After you, Alia."

"Thank you," she smiled, sitting down. James did likewise.

"Oh yeah, and this is Remus. Our other friend Sirius is in detention tonight, the idiot. You'll meet him if you end up coming here for good."

Conversation would doubtless have followed if food hadn't appeared at that point. Sirius had to make a concerted effort to remember that he was now Alia, and therefore had to eat like a lady. Consequently, his mental capacity was mostly consumed by remembering his manners, and trying to make eye contact with Remus across the table.

Remus was avoiding eye contact with Alia, because he was certain he had seen her somewhere before, and wanted to work out where. Surely he'd remember meeting a girl that pretty? After all, she was the first girl in years that had made him look twice.

At length, dinner was concluded. By the time dessert appeared, Remus had given up avoiding Alia's eyes, and she was taking full advantage of the opportunity to eat the pink-and-cream-coloured ice cream as seductively as she could. Sirius knew he only had one night, and he had to make an impression.

When the food was at last all gone, Remus was feeling a little disconcerted as the students were shepherded out of the Great Hall so it could be rearranged for the ball. A few things were bugging him: he was sure he had seen Alia before; he wasn't used to any girl having this kind of effect on him; and she was flirting with him like mad.

Sirius, in his female form, was relishing the chance to flirt with the object of his affections at last. He had to admit that Remus looked good tonight, even more so than usual. It looked like the unofficial style lessons Sirius had given him in the past had filtered through. Like a lot of the other students, Remus had favoured Muggle clothes over dress robes; he was wearing a pair of black trousers that clung in all the right places and a dark green shirt with a hint of a shine to the fabric. Not only that, but he was wearing eyeliner. It had taken Sirius months to persuade him that that was a good idea. And good it definitely was. Sirius was glad he was here in girl-form, as this way he would be able to stick with Remus all night and fend off any other girls who might want the honey-haired boy.

When they were all let back into the hall, Alia was walking right beside Remus, brushing against him, and she claimed the seat adjacent to his when the four of them sat down. Peter went off to get drinks, and James scampered off to serenade Lily, or some other cheesy romance attempt that would only get him slapped or, at best, glared at. But then again, Sirius was scraping the barrel himself as far as romance was concerned.

Before the silence could stretch out, the band started playing a song, and Alia stood up, extending a hand to Remus. "I love this song! Come on, let's go dance!"

Remus was so involved in his thoughts that he couldn't marshal the strength to refuse. Instead he took the proffered hand and followed Alia to the dance floor, which shortly filled up as people took their example.

Even as they were dancing, Alia getting as close as possible, Remus was trying to work out the niggling thoughts in the back of his mind. There was something about the way Alia looked, the way she sounded, the way she moved, that was painfully familiar. But he was certain he'd never met her before. Maybe she was related to someone he knew? Lots of wizarding families were related to each other.

Sirius had noticed his distraction, but wasn't dwelling on it. He was just enjoying getting into the kind of proximity he would never have achieved as himself. He could see that imperceptibly, Remus was weakening to Alia's charms. For that reason, they didn't leave the floor when the song finished, or the next. It was only after three songs that they returned to their seats to find Peter sitting there with four Butterbeers on the table beside him.

"Thanks," Remus nodded to Peter as he took a bottle and popped the lid, taking a delicate sip.

"Yes, thank you, Peter," Alia smiled, picking up one of the other bottles and opening it, taking care not to damage her nails. Acting like a girl wasn't as hard as Sirius had expected it to be.

By the time they had finished their drinks, James was back, and Alia was leaning against Remus's shoulder. He wasn't completely oblivious, and was just admitting to himself that, contrary to what he would have expected, he was feeling quite attracted to her.

Sirius decided now would be a good time to take a break. "James, please could you show me where the ladies' is?"

"Sure I can." James stood up and led Alia out of the hall.

Actually, they went back to the potion-brewing site. Once inside, Alia leaned against the wall and breathed out slowly. "How am I doing?"

"Not bad, really," James grinned. "I mean you make a very convincing girl. One thing though… maybe be a bit more subtle with Moony? You've laid down the groundwork, he's noticed you, but now you need to try and… I don't know, _connect_ with him."

Alia sighed. "This is proving quite a challenge."

James laughed out loud. "You liar! I saw you two on the dance floor; you were all over him and you were loving it."

"Okay, okay…" Alia started, before reapplying her lipgloss and finishing: "I admit I maybe got a little kick out of that. But it stinks knowing that I've only got tonight."

"Hey, it was your choice."

"I know, I know." Alia turned back to James. "How do I look?"

"You still look great. Can I ask you something?"

Alia tilted her head to one side, her hair sheeting across her shoulder. "Shoot."

"What does it feel like, being a girl? I mean the physical side of it."

She wrinkled her nose in thought. "I don't know… I haven't really thought about it much; I've been too busy trying to be convincing and hold onto Remus. I guess kind of weird, but it's just a redistribution of weight, technically. You just have to remember to sit with your legs together."

James laughed. "We should get back; time it is a-wasting."

"Prongs, you come out with some really random crap sometimes."

"Says he who's currently a girl."

"Fine, be that way," Alia said, rolling her eyes. "Let's go." She led the way back to the hall, finding to her delight that in her absence Remus had laid an arm along the back of her chair. She sat down and moved her head so that her hair brushed against his skin.

Up to that moment, Remus was dangerously close to giving in and accepting his attraction to this mystery girl. That one split-second was enough to clinch it. Slowly, he tightened his arm around her shoulders, his heart fluttering slightly as she moved a little closer to him.

They stayed there like that for a few minutes, watching couples and groups dancing, and people generally enjoying themselves. Then a new song started, and Sirius recognised it as Remus's favourite. He had to take the chance.

Remus smiled as he recognised the opening chords of the song, then felt a tug on his hand as Alia stood up. He willingly followed her onto the dance floor, wondering about her sudden almost psychic intuition. Was it a coincidence? Did she like the song too? It must be one of the two.

As they started to dance, he ignored the nagging thoughts, and enjoyed himself. At last he was showing some response to Alia's forwardness, and Sirius was delighted.

When the song finished, Alia led the way back to their seats, a few steps ahead of Remus. As they neared the chairs, they both saw James sneak up on Peter from behind and put his hands over Peter's eyes. The seated boy choked on a mouthful of Butterbeer, and Alia laughed, half-turning back to Remus.

That was when it hit him: who Alia reminded him of, why he was attracted to her, why he didn't think he should be, and why his mind had been mixed up all evening. His memory flitted back to fourth year, when James and Peter had gone home for Christmas, and he and Sirius had been on their own in the dorm, and they had got a little stupid. Sirius had got hold of some women's clothes from somewhere…

Alia reminded him of what Sirius had looked like dressed as a girl. He hadn't been attracted to her as herself; he had been attracted to a lookalike of his best friend.

Somehow he managed to get back to his seat and act like he hadn't just had a brain-splitting revelation. He joined in laughing at Peter's mishap, helped him stop choking, and excused himself to Alia before leaving the Great Hall.

Sirius stared after him. He knew when something wasn't right with Remus. Quickly, he elbowed James.

James turned to face him, saw the slight concern in his feminine face, and stood up, taking Alia's elbow and leaving the room. When they were out in the entrance hall, he spoke. "What is it?"

"Something's wrong,"Alia said. "Just then, his face went all weird, and did you see how quickly he left?"

"Maybe he really needed the bathroom," James suggested.

Alia's face was betraying panic. "I know when something's wrong with Remus, okay James? I've been watching him since fourth year!"

James let out a long breath. "Okay, supposing you're right. Where do you think he's gone?"

"I don't know! Back to the dorm?" Alia ran a hand through her hair in a very Sirius-like way. "Hang on. Where did you tell him I was tonight?"

"Detention with McGonagall for cribbing your homework straight from the textbook," James answered promptly. "Why are you so panicked?"

"Something's gone really really wrong!" Alia said. "Call it female intuition, whatever, but I just know." Her face drained of all colour. "Oh god! What if he figured out it was me?"

"He'll just think it's a prank," James replied quickly. "He wouldn't guess."

"He'll be so mad at me!" Alia was nearly shaking. "He's only just forgiven me for the Snape thing! I can't lose him, James!"

Suddenly Sirius was cut off as James slapped him round the face. It wasn't a particularly hard smack, just enough to shut him up.

"Look, S- Alia, calm down, okay? We're not going to get anywhere like this!" James was looking increasingly frustrated. "I'll go to the dorm, you go to the classroom. Failing that, just run around a bit and see if you can find him. I'll zap you a message if I find him."

"Okay." Alia's look of panic was replaced by one of resolve. She turned to go.

"Can you remember the incantation?" James asked before she left.

"Yep." She started to run, stopped briefly to cast a spell on her shoes to reduce the heel height, and started running again.

On reaching the Transfiguration classroom where detentions were held, Alia stopped to catch her breath. This had gone so wrong…

Slowly, she pushed the door. It swung open and she stepped in. It was empty. Sirius's brain barely had time to digest this before Alia's feet were running back the way they had come.

He had to resist the urge to go to the dorm. James had promised to send a message if Remus was there. Instead, he stopped at the end of a corridor, whipped out his wand and improvised. He had read somewhere that anyone could make up a spell if they needed to. He'd heard rumours that Snape was doing it, so why shouldn't he be able to as well?

"Ubi est lupum meum?" he improvised. And since it seemed fitting, he spelt out the letters 'R.L.' in the air. Then he waited. This must look really stupid: an out-of-breath, scared-looking girl in a party dress, standing on her own muttering in Latin and making bizarre wand movements.

Seconds later he realised it didn't matter how it looked, because it seemed to work anyway. Slowly, his wand spun on his palm, eventually stopping to point to his right. Muttering silent thanks to any deities that cared to listen, he ran off in that direction.

The corridor felt endless, and he had no idea where he was heading. He was so focused on the wand in his hand that he didn't see the door until he ran into it. Fortunately he didn't knock himself out, but simply stunned himself for a second or two, before straightening up and looking at the door. It led to the grounds.

Slowly, one of Alia's manicured hands reached out to turn the handle, and she stepped outside. She glanced back at the wand and adjusted her direction slightly, walking down a small incline and seeing, suddenly, the one she was looking for.

Remus was sitting on the grass, leaning against a rock and staring out at the Forbidden Forest. Quietly, Alia walked forward and sat down beside him.

It took a moment for him to notice that she was there, but when he did, his head whipped round and an undecipherable look crossed his face.

"Hi," Alia said softly.

"Hi Alia… I'm sorry about running out on you all back there."

Sirius's heart leapt. Did this mean Remus hadn't worked out what was going on? "It's okay, Remus. What happened? I thought we were okay; I thought you liked me…" His brain had evidently decided to go for broke.

"So did I," Remus answered, an edge of confusion in his voice.

Alia frowned. "So what went wrong?"

"Alia… even if you come to this school for good, will you please promise me never to repeat what I'm about to tell you?"

"Of course," she replied, confused now herself. "I promise."

"Okay." He took a deep breath in. "I… I thought I liked you, I mean you're really pretty and sweet, but… please don't be offended, but I think it's because you remind me of someone. Someone that I guess… I have a crush on."

Sirius's heart sank. He had been completely himself tonight, and Remus didn't like that. There was no hope left. "Who?"

"One of my friends," Remus said quietly.

Sirius tried to paste a friendly and encouraging smile across Alia's face. "Ooh, which one? Please not Peter!"

That actually elicited a small laugh from Remus. "No, not Peter."

"James then." Alia's voice was now Sirius's best attempt at sounding girlish. "He's not bad looking. You could do a lot worse."

"No, it's not James." Remus's words were almost a whisper. "It's the one you didn't meet tonight… it's Sirius. I like Sirius."

Sirius's insides turned to water for a second. It was all he could do to not kiss Remus there and then; instead he put an arm round his shoulders. "And is that a problem?"

The laugh was bitter this time. "In so far as to say that I would appear to have a rather large and unfortunate crush on my male, most definitely straight friend, yes."

"How do you know he's straight?" The words were out of Alia's mouth before Sirius could stop them.

"If you knew him you wouldn't have to ask. He's with a different girl every day of the week. I've never seen him look at any boy the way I wish he'd look at me." Remus's voice cracked. "That's why I've never admitted it, not even to myself; I wouldn't have a chance with him. There'd be no point in even thinking about it."

"I guess I should be flattered," Sirius found himself saying, "that I reminded you of someone you care about that much."

Remus smiled weakly. "Yeah, please do. I'm sorry I messed you around tonight, Alia."

"Don't be." She squeezed his shoulders. "Hey, would you excuse me for a minute? I told James I'd be right back."

"Okay." He smiled with a little more conviction. "Thanks for coming after me."

"No problem." Alia stood up, walked until she was out of sight, and then ran up to Gryffindor Tower, finding James in the dorm.

"Did you find him?" James asked as soon as she entered.

"Oh, I found him all right." A smile was beginning to stretch across Alia's face.

"Oh, god, Sirius… did you get what you wanted out of tonight?" James asked with a slight sense of foreboding.

"Nope," Alia answered calmly, sitting on Sirius's bed. "I got something else entirely. He likes me, James, not Alia, the _real_ me. The male me."

James's eyes went wide. "Are you serious?"

She laughed. "Not right now; I'm Alia, remember?" In the face of a nasty glare from James, she added: "Yeah… he really did say that."

A grin appeared on James's face and he sprang up, went over and hugged her. "Well done, mate." Pulling back, his face grew serious. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know." Alia bit her lip. "I'm going to have to tell him what I did, aren't I?"

"He'll understand," James said firmly. "Now say the bloody incantation and get back down there!"

"Are you sure I should go as myself?"

James sighed. "The girl-hormones have messed up your brain, I swear; you never dither like this. Yes, go as yourself. You've done all you can as Alia."

"If you think that's best," Alia replied, picking up Sirius's clothes and going into the bathroom. Minutes later, she reappeared, still a girl, but wearing male clothes. She was just picking up Sirius's wand from the bedside table when the door opened and Remus came in.

His eyes flitted over James and came to rest on Alia. His brain took a moment to reconcile itself with the idea of Alia wearing Sirius's clothes. It was still confused after that.

Sirius stood completely still for several seconds. There was no going back now. Remus was the smartest marauder; he'd work this out for himself anyway. Breathing in slowly, Sirius raised his wand and said the words. "Semper sim qui ego sum; I now declare this change undone."

All over his body, he felt himself changing back. His weight redistributed itself; his facial features sharpened; and his hair shortened to just above the shoulder. His face was tensed in an expression of mild dread.

Remus stood in shock. He had worked out what had happened about two seconds before Alia had said the incantation and become Sirius again.

Finally managing to animate his frozen limbs, he walked over to Sirius and slapped him. It wasn't like the blow Sirius had taken from James earlier on; this one was borne of emotion rather than necessity, and it stung.

Remus spoke. "That was for messing with my head, and finding out my secrets like that."

Sirius looked back at him with a lump in his throat. He had seen this look in Remus's eyes after Sirius had played that prank on Snape not so long before, and it wasn't good. "I'm sorry," he whispered. Behind him, he was dimly aware of James making his exit from the room, leaving him and Remus alone. "I didn't do it to hurt you."

"Then why did you do it?" He couldn't decide which element of Remus's tone was worse: the hurt or the anger.

"I did it because I wanted to be with you, even if it was just for one night, and even if it meant I had to be a girl."

Remus sighed. "You're an idiot, Black."

He lowered his head. "I know."

"But I forgive you," Remus said softly. "You didn't do anything wrong." He stepped forward and put his arms tentatively around Sirius, leaning in to kiss him gently.

Sirius returned the kiss gladly, using it to channel his apology, his emotions, and the way he had been feeling all this time. He could taste ice cream and Butterbeer, and he could smell a scent that was just Remus.

---

_A/N: Happy Valentine's Day (even though it's early)! It's really hard to know when to say 'Sirius' and when to say 'Alia' in this fic... _

_Translations: _

_'Semper sim qui ego sum': 'Let me always be who I am.'__  
'Ubi est lupum meum?': 'Where is my wolf?'_

_Also, anyone who cares to look up 'Alia Dolum' may be able to work out a hidden meaning._


End file.
